HS BASE: Eight is Enough: Chatsworth wins another City title

It's been a baseball season that has slowly built momentum, from the early rebuilding process, to the finding-themselves stage, to the late-season run to a league title, to finally a celebratory peak in the playoffs.

Chatsworth High and its ace pitcher Trevor Takeyama are again kings of City Section baseball after defeating Narbonne of Harbor City 7-2 in the City Championship on a warm Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

Takeyama (14-1), a right-hander with pin-point control and an impressive array of off-speed pitches, won his third consecutive playoff game, holding Narbonne to two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out seven.

"I feel great. We've come really far and grown tremendously to the point where we were really competitive today," Takeyama said. "This was just a good team effort. I could not have done it without my defense. They made a lot of great plays, not just today but all season."

Chatsworth (29-5) has won two City titles in a row and a City-record eight overall, including six over the past 10 years.

Narbonne (27-7) rallied to score a first-inning run, but the damage was minimalized by a couple of over-aggressive base-running mistakes, as Chatsworth shortstop Kasey Toven threw two runners out of the plate.

"In the past, Narbonne has always been aggressive on the base paths, so I thought those plays at the plate were a big part of the game," Toven said. "It gave our team momentum. I actually had a vision about this game, so I wasn't surprised.

And Trevor is one of the best pitchers in the City. He works as hard as anyone. I'm just on top of the world right now. I can't explain it. Nothing can replace this feeling."

gerry.gittelson@dailynews.com